


Soul Phrase

by OratorioPicaro



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Age Changes, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - No Personas (Persona Series), Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Character Death, Demons, F/F, Ghosts, Horror, M/M, Minato centered, Romance, Slow Burn, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:55:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29509341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OratorioPicaro/pseuds/OratorioPicaro
Summary: While investigating the serial murders in the city, Narukami Yu suspects that there's much more to the cases than meets the eye. Who better to turn to than twin college students trying to uncover their past and study the magic they were never taught?A fic somewhat inspired by Something Wicked by Neurotrophicfactors, who recently gave me permission to post this. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have remembered about my witch Minato and detective Yu plot. Again, thank you, Neurotrophicfactors!!
Relationships: Amagi Yukiko/Satonaka Chie, Arisato Minako/Yamagishi Fuuka, Arisato Minato/Narukami Yu, Arisato Minato/Seta Souji, Kirijo Mitsuru/Takeba Yukari, Narukami Yu/Yuuki Makoto, Past Yoshino Chidori/Iori Junpei, Seta Souji/Yuuki Makoto, Shiomi Kotone/Yamagishi Fuuka, implied Shirogane Naoto/Tatsumi Kanji, past Hanamura Yosuke/Konishi Saki, past Shiomi Kotone/Aragaki Shinjiro
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Soul Phrase

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Something Wicked](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12626100) by [neurotrophicfactors](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neurotrophicfactors/pseuds/neurotrophicfactors). 



> Okay so this has been my brainchild ever since I got back into Persona and found out what Bankita/MinaSou is. I'm just now writing this, but I hope it's as interesting to you as it is to me. As always, I'll put explainations in the notes.

Minato was no stranger to spirits, having been able to see them his entire life.

Ghosts revealed themselves to him, sharing stories with him and crying over futures that they never would experience. They spoke of Death as a friend and life as a game, but he rarely paid any real attention to them. People thought he was weird already and replying to something invisible to the naked eye was bound to get authority involved. However, there was nothing to be done about them. Trust him, he had tried everything.

Some things were better left ignored for as long as possible. There were lessons to be learned about being too curious, and being blind to those lessons had led the Arisatos into a lifetime of regret. It only took one accident for them to understand that curiosity would lead to their downfall, but now here they were fourteen years later. Acting as if nothing had happened, pursuing magicks after their family gave it up. 

Of course, none of this had been his idea.

Across from Minato sat his sister, Kotone, trying her best to get his attention.

“Mina! Earth to Minnie? Hellooo?” she called to him, snapping her fingers and waving in his face as she attempted to make him focus.

The blue-haired witch blinked, his head giving a small twitch as he remembered what he was doing. The two were supposed to be studying together, making use of their free time instead of chatting with friends around campus. Textbooks surrounded them and papers were strewn around the library table, Kotone’s pencil case spilled colored pens as she changed between them in her notes.

“You’ve been staring off for a hot minute. I would’ve just left you, but you seemed a bit troubled...What were you thinking about anyway?” 

It was nothing she hadn’t heard a million times and she probably knew so, but nothing could stop her when she wanted an answer. No matter how small it was or how insignificant the response was, the redhead got her way. It just proved how different the twins were from each other, as Minato just tended to shrug things off and let them go for good. The duality of siblings he called it.

“Nothing, just…” he lowers his voice further so that no one in the library can hear them, “Why do you want us to study all this magic stuff so badly? It’s interesting, yeah, but didn’t gran-”

“-grandma say that’s what killed mom and dad? Yeah, but don’t you think things would have been so much different for us if you know...they were around to teach us what they knew? If we don’t make the same mistakes as they did, we won’t have the same issue.” Every time the bluenette asks, Kotone answers the same. It always made him ask himself if she actually knew if what she was saying was true. Maybe it was reassurance for herself as well. Minato couldn’t blame her.

For years, it had been just the two of them being bounced from relative to relative until they were old enough to move out. Now, it really was just the two of them if you didn’t count the handful of strangers they met on campus this year. Minato wasn’t sure about his sister, but meeting new people made him feel awfully alone still. After all, they had never stuck around anywhere else to make friends so meeting people just reminded him of that. How long before they left? Or how long before something happened and he had to leave?

“Yeah...You’re right, Kotone, but we don’t even know what they did,” he replies, giving a small sigh, “What if we do make that mistake? What then?”

The redhead smiles softly, reaching out to place a hand on top of his own. 

“Trust me. Things will work out if we’re careful...maybe we can even get rid of your ghost problem?”

That was a maybe. Though, at this point, what good would blinding him from the truth do? Minato had already seen so much and he was already aware of them. The last thing he needs is to not know if he was being spied on in the shower or not. It had happened before and he was getting tired of being bothered. He couldn’t even eat breakfast in peace most days.

The spirits that haunt him have names and stories. Some even have families still in the world, but none of them were ever...his. None of the spirits were ever his mother or father, so it was almost certain that they had already passed on. If magick could help him see them again- maybe he’d continue trying to learn.

“Yeah...Maybe…”

  
That night, the bluenette lies awake, staring at the ceiling as he gives up on sleep. Thoughts raced through his mind as per usual, too loud to let him focus or rest normally. If he ever tried to prioritize his work or doze off, they would manifest themselves as the droning sound of static or a high-pitched ringing in his ears. Truly, he never got any real rest except for the few times a week he got a good night’s sleep.

Minato slowly sat up, rubbing the rheum out of the corners of his eyes with a yawn. Perhaps a walk would make him tired enough to ignore the memories and ideas popping in and out of his mind? Even if it did nothing, it beat logging onto his computer only to realize that he was much too tired to pay attention to what was on his screen. Not even his MMORPGs were enough to keep him on track when he was in this state, but the fresh air was occasionally a cure-all. Some kind of free lullaby.

Slipping out from under his blue checkered sheets, he quickly changes his bottoms and grabs his messenger bag before leaving his room. The rest of his shared apartment was cold compared to the leftover heat from his heavy comforter, dead quiet to show that his sister had been asleep for quite a while now. He would be back by morning so she definitely wouldn’t miss him anytime soon. If there was any similarity between them, they both slept like the dead...well, when they were able to.

“ _Where are you going_?”

In the corner sat someone quite familiar to him now, legs crossed so that she could lie her sketchbook on her lap and draw. Chained to her arm was a hatchet that she couldn’t remove, her white dress stained with her own blood. Another chain connected her to an entity, its metallic goat skull and horns shining in the moonlight coming through the window. One of its hands plays with her hair almost like a cat playing with a mouse. Its claws were bloody, the width of each individual digit matching the wounds in the girl’s chest.

“Good morning to you, Chidori. Medea,” he grumbles quietly, proceeding towards the coat rack he had helped fix to the wall with command strips, “I’m going out, but I’ll be back before Kotone is up.”

“ _It’s cold, isn’t it? I saw people wearing coats_.”

“Yeah...It was snowing earlier. You should have seen it.”

Minato had noticed that the two never left the building, likely meaning they just couldn’t exit at all. In the evening, they would come up to the Arisatos’ apartment to draw. This had been happening since he graduated high school, but he still didn’t know what exactly Medea was. Chidori never talked about it and he frankly didn’t care that much. It was bound to her, so he wasn’t concerned about it attaching to him or anything. Hell, if she wasn’t willing to tell him how she died, then it was not his business to be poking into.

“ _Mhm...This may be sudden, but can I ask you a favor?_ ”

“Hit me with it.”

The bluenette sighs internally. What was it? Frankly, if he just wanted her off his back, he could lie about it but he always felt awfully compelled to do what was asked of him. What was he, a dog? No, but his life would be much simpler if that was the case...that dog at the shrine sure had it easy.

“ _There’s a spirit that haunts that abandoned school- Gekkoukan High? I’m sick of you complaining about seeing us, and so is Medea. Could you just go talk to her about that?_ ” the redhead asks, looking up from her sketchbook as she closes it, “ _She’s usually on the roof. Maybe she’ll help you, but- if she can't- don’t come to complain to me. You’re annoying and I can’t help you, so there’s no point_.”

Blunt as per usual. Minato swore that he had more in common personality-wise with this spirit than his own sister, but that was expected. He no longer had any regard for life or death, so if he were to live or die he wouldn’t care much. Likewise, having experienced the end before, many spirits had become pessimistic and no longer cared now that things were over. That’s just how things were from him and the apparitions.

“Well, since you insist. I’ll miss our little chats, Chidori.” That was meant to be sarcastic and he was likely the only one who knew it. His flat affect and his constant straightforwardness really meddled with people’s perceptions of him, after all. They either thought he was very rude or very weird and there wasn’t really an in-between. Sometimes, people thought he was serious when he was joking and vice versa. There was really nothing that he could do besides adding “I’m serious” or “I’m just kidding” onto every sentence.

“ _Go take your walk_.”

Right. His walk. 


End file.
